Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Carr. I record yet another outbreak of the Hendra virus in Queensland yesterday. Will the minister explain how the government can possibly justify axing the Biosecurity CRC given that there are 860 known diseases that have originated in animals and passed to humans and that 75 per cent of all new diseases in humans are of animal origin?

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Back, in the last three days you have asked me the same question about the process of Biosecurity CRC funding. The CRC applied for refunding for the 11th round. It was one of the 10 out of 24 that did not make it through to the second stage of applications. It was rejected after careful assessment of the application by an independent CRC review committee. The independent reviewers were not convinced that the CRC would achieve the proposed outcomes necessary to address biosecurity threats such as the Hendra or the H1N1 viruses.

The Biosecurity CRC was advised on 28 April that it would not be progressing to stage 2. In May I announced the CRC program would move from biennial to annual rounds. This meant that the Biosecurity CRC and other CRCs that did not go on to stage 2 of the process would not have to wait two years to reapply. In fact, I opened a new selection around on 26 May, with applications closing on 14 August. I amended the guidelines to allow the CRC committee to provide feedback to the CRCs that made it to interview before the 11th round was completed. The CRC committee chair provided written advice back to the CRC on 26 June this year and expanded verbally on that feedback on 6 July. The committee’s feedback to the CRC noted that while that included many key players it did not include some logical end users such as AQIS and Customs. It also noted the Biosecurity CRC proposal including a large amount of tied cash— (Time expired)

Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I thought that that would have set off alarm bells in the minister to hear such incorrect information. Can the minister advise the Senate which agency will continue field research in relation to diseases transmitted from birds and mosquitoes known to occur in Australia when the CRC is terminated, including the West Nile virus which killed 44 people in America as well as a number of animals in 2008 alone?

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The application by Biosecurity CRC for refunding was not received. The CRC was encouraged to reapply for funding in the round which closed on 14 August. It chose not to do so. I can only conclude that members of the Biosecurity CRC decided that they would not be able to put together a strong enough application.

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I raise a point of order. Sessional orders require the minister to be directly relevant to the question. The question was: can the minister advise the Senate which agency will continue to do the field research? No longer talking about the Biosecurity CRC being closed down, it was: which agency will undertake it? That is the question, and that is what he needs to directly answer.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I believe the minister is answering the question. The minister might not be answering the question in the way in which you desire the question to be answered. I draw the minister’s attention to the fact that there are 31 seconds remaining in which to answer the question.

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At the end of the day, I cannot force a group of applicants to actually apply, I cannot force the end users to put in an application and I certainly cannot ask the CRC committee to consider an application that has not been received. Diagnostic and disease investigation studies which focus on investigating and diagnosing outbreaks of viruses as they happen are undertaken by the Australian Animal Health Laboratory— (Time expired)

Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. The minister has stated that the field veterinary work on the Hendra virus is being undertaken in Queensland by the CSIRO. Given that this fieldwork is actually undertaken by the Queensland DPI veterinarians, funded in part at least by the Australian Biosecurity CRC for New and Emerging Diseases, will the minister now correct his answer and will he tell the Senate which government body will carry out this work into the future?

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Diagnostic and disease investigation studies—I repeat, Senator—focusing on investigating and diagnosing outbreaks of viruses when they happen are undertaken by the Australian Animal Health Laboratory and DPI Queensland, with funding provided from the Commonwealth and Queensland respectively. There is no CRC funding involved in this. The AAHL undertakes research on Hendra virus through controlled conditions to investigate the infection in horses and bats, including diagnosis and control approaches, the horse vaccine and the emergency treatment. This laboratory based research is funded both through the CSIRO and external bodies such as the NIH grants. This research is undertaken exclusively by the Australian Animal Health Laboratory and does not involve the Queensland department of primary industries or any fieldwork in Queensland, nor does it involve funding from the CRC. There is a joint research— (Time expired)